Playing with toys alone is pretty fun I guess, but any kind of amusement is at its most amusing when you're subordinating your friends to the might of your will. Mattel's Radica Mindflex Duel does that. With your brain waves.

The last Mindflex was neat, but more of a proof of concept—you moved a little ball around. Cool! But really, not that much of a thrill. The Mindflex Duel, as its name implies, pits you against a pal (and soon to be psychological enemy) to see who can force a little floating ball to the opposite end of the table. The Mattel rep on hand instructed us simply to concentrate as hard as we could. Concentrate. Concentrate. So I did, and lo and behold, the ball moved! But then I sort of stopped concentrating, and thought about taxes, and lost loves, and how I need to buy a new comforter, and I still moved the ball. So, maybe not a perfect system, but when you're staring into your opponent's eyes, brain against brain, it's a tense battle of wits. Or at least it feels like it. Check for this particularly mind-validating toy in August for $100.